Navy says genitalia air display 'absolutely unacceptable'

Residents of Washington state turned their eyes to a clear blue sky Thursday and found themselves staring at a cartoonish rendering of male genitalia, sketched in smoke by at least one Navy EA-18G Growler jet flying out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

The image stretched hundreds of feet high over the Okanogan highlands, based on some of the photographs shared across social media.

Lt. Cmdr. Leslie Hubbell, a Navy spokeswoman, called the incident "absolutely unacceptable," saying it holds no training value and is under investigation.

The unit involved, Electronic Attack Squadron 130, flies a two-person variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and specializes in electronic warfare. The crew responsible has not been identified.

"We will not tolerate this behavior," Hubbell said. "This is not indicative of the overall population of our folks."

The Defense Department has placed heightened emphasis on sexual harassment and sexual assault in the ranks.

And while it's not clear what this investigation will yield, it's evident the Navy is taking it seriously.

This is not the first time a military pilot has drawn similar images. A Royal Air Force jet drew what appeared to be a penis in the sky over Scotland in 2014.

The RAF later concluded the suggestive smoke trails were caused by a pilot circling in a holding pattern.

In the United States, the Navy's elite flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, also was cited in an investigation released in 2014 for painting a giant penis on the roof of a trailer at its winter training home in El Centro, Calif., where pilots could see it from above. The blue-and-gold painting was so large it could be seen on satellite imagery available on Google Maps, the Navy found.

It's unclear what fate awaits the pilot in this latest incident.

According to a Navy Department manual released this year, incidents of sexual harassment "cover a wide range of behaviors, from verbal comments to physical acts, and can be subtle or overt."

If the skywriting over Washington is determined to be sexual harassment aimed at someone in the same squadron, service members involved could be subject to formal counseling, negative fitness reports that hurt careers, administrative punishment, or court-martial and separation from the service.